每日一词学英语(38): slick

最近有一架法航班机失踪，虽然搜救工作紧锣密鼓地进行着，但找到的希望似乎越来越小(From Times Online, June 5, 2009: Air France Airbus may never be found)。

这架班机是从里约热内卢飞往巴黎的空中客车A330，巴西军方曾在海面上误认一些漂浮物以为来自飞机。
They also said that they had mis-identified a fuel slick on the surface.
他们还误以为在海面上找到了飞机泄漏的浮油。

Slick可以作形容词、名词和动词，这里是名词：a covering of liquid, particularly oil。看Wiktionary上两个例句：
1) Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.
2) The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.

希望能尽快找到"black box" recorders，逝者生命无可挽回，但失事原因终会查清。